Fukuyama Castle (Sōja)

In February 1336, Ashikaga Takauji, who had been defeated in Kyoto and pursued to Kyushu by the forces of Emperor Go-Daigo the previous year, had assembled a new army, and began to his counterattack to the east with 300,000 men. On reaching Kuniyo-no-ura in Bingo Province, the army was divided into two groups, with Takauji taking a third of the force by ships on the Seto Inland Sea to directly attack the Kinai region, while his brother Ashikaga Tadayoshi lead the remainder up the San'yōdō highway by land. On April 3, Ōida Ujitsuna, a general in the vanguard of Nitta Yoshisada's army loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo laid siege to Shō Kanesuke at Fukuyama Castle to block the Ashikaga army from advancing further eastward. The Ashikaga army reached the castle on May 14, and with overwhelming numerical superiority, soon surrounded Ōida forces. However, despite being greatly outnumbered, Ōida fought well and inflicted 20,000 casualties on the Ashikaga before the castle fell. Ōida also managed to escape the fall of the castle with a small force of 400 men and continued to harass the Ashikaga army from his stronghold at Mitsuishi Castle in Bizen Province near the border with Harima. However, only seven days after the fall of Fukushima Castle, Nitta Yoshisada was killed in combat at the Battle of Minatogawa, which led to the collapse and defeat of Emperor Go-Daigo's forces.[2]